IVFML was different than any others I had listened to. For starters, there were two hosts – a husband and a wife (typically podcasts are hosted by women only). The hosts, Simon Ganz and Anna Almendrala, have a great sense of humor, mixed with the ability to be raw and vulnerable. They touched on so many common emotional, physical, and financial aspects of infertility. They had guest speakers who were friends experiencing infertility, a medical doctor, and a therapist. I found myself hanging on every word, and looking forward to finishing the series to see how it ended.

The Walk of Hope recognizes the many ways in which families are built, supports local support services and programs for the 7.3 million women and men living with infertility, and raises public understanding of how the disease of infertility impacts families nationwide.

It has been five years, yet I can remember it so vividly. I can recall the raw emotions that pierced through every part of my being. Although life has moved on, I still long for what was not meant to be. And it still hurts.

I understood the havoc that infertility wreaks on millions of men, women, and couples, and I was not done after completing my family. I simply couldn’t walk away from the ability to support and empathize with those who continue to experience it.

The moment I stepped into the Share meeting and was embraced with a massive bear hug from the leader, I was understood. Although I had not yet introduced myself to anyone in the room, I knew for certain that they got me. They too had experienced loss. It didn’t matter how that looked; loss of embryos, early loss, second and third trimester loss, after birth loss. Loss was loss was loss.

I tried almost everything to get pregnant. Eastern. Western. You name it. Acupuncture was one of my go to methods, despite our unsuccessful first IVF frozen embryo transfer during which I had treatments before and after.

When I was asked to be interviewed by Valerie at Eggsperiences, I was confused. After all, the title of her blog is “All Things Egg Freezing.” I didn’t freeze my eggs. I didn’t contemplate freezing my eggs. I didn’t even know that much about egg freezing when I would have ideally frozen my eggs. I agreed […]